# the "Frank Method"



## slyder (Mar 17, 2009)

Another packing method.

YouTube - Tobacco Pipe Packing Methods - The Frank Method


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## David M (Mar 11, 2009)

Very OT:
Little factoid about this method and the video that's posted on Frank's official website at Pfeifenstudio Frank it's had over 20,000,000 hits.
Doesn't mean 20,000,000 people saw it, but still. Thats a lot of eye-balls looking at that method.
Post a good video with good info and...there ya go.


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## Commander Quan (May 6, 2003)

This method really helped me when I was first starting to smoke a pipe. The 3 step method was a disaster and the smoking was always hot and heavy. The Frank method kept me from packing the bowl too tight, and it more or less what I still use.


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## bkeske (Oct 28, 2009)

Interesting. I tried this, and my pipe smoked hotter than I prefer.

For the time being, I'm still using the tried and true '3 step' method, which must be altered a bit depending on the tobacco used, and obliviously does not work for flake, where I 'fold and stuff', but loosen it by rolling it a bit before stuffing.

Personally, I believe the success of these methods, or not, really depends on your pipe smoking habits, and again, what type of tobacco you smoke most often. While working, I still have a habit of smoking too fast, but am getting better, and this and the air pocket' method seems to create too much hot air near the bottom of the bowl. When I'm relaxing, and paying closer attention, that isn't as much of an issue, but even then, the '3 step method' works well for me. I'm not sure I use the exact same method shown in these videos, but another I learned, which is more 'precise' in the layering and tamping between.


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## IrishCamel81 (Jan 26, 2009)

I have been smoking my pipes for a year now and still feel I do not have the filling down. I think I will have my tobacconist show me when I pick up some flints for my lighter.


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## Habanolover (Feb 22, 2006)

When I fist started smoking the pipes I would take 3-4 puffs and relight, 3-4 puffs, then relight. I would do this over and over. After finding the video of Frank showing his method I now fill the pipe and about the only time I relight is when I let the pipe go out for a reason.

Also watching Dub's video on maintaining a bowl has helped tremendously.


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## slyder (Mar 17, 2009)

i just tried this in my bent stanwell with some nightcap.............wow perfect draw first time. And it actually stays lit!! Why didnt I try this a couple months ago?


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## Zeabed (Apr 23, 2009)

This is the only Frank method I can trust.


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## Bleedingme (Jan 14, 2011)

I was doing some YouTube-ing today and I saw the Frank Method. Does anyone still use it after trying it the first time? Hate to dig up an old thread but I'm very curious.


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## jfserama (Mar 26, 2009)

I've used it before. It works well, especially when I want to transport the packed—unsmoked—pipe, as the top layer is not likely to fall out. But I'm pretty lazy, so a stuff-and-puff or three-step (or a hybrid of the two) is my usual. When my smoke is all about the tobacco (not while Im driving/reading/yardwork/whatever) I often use the Frank Method as it draws and burns well more consistently than the three-step, IMO.


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## MarkC (Jul 4, 2009)

I don't care for it at all. I always overstuff the pipe.


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## Commander Quan (May 6, 2003)

I still fill some of my pipes this way. I think it is a good way for beginners to fill a pipe but after a while each person seams to develope a feel for how each pipe/tobacco should be filled for the best results. New smokers don't have that touch, so as long as you aren't shoving a fistful tobacco into the bowl in the last step it seams to work well.


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## Nachman (Oct 16, 2010)

I never learned a method. My father just stuffed tobacco in a bowl and smoked it so that is what I have always done. I couldn't explain how I do it, but I seldom have to relight. Used to be you saw men filling pipes all around you so you knew how to fill a pipe by example without much thought. Now boys grow up and may have never seen a pipe being filled. We owe it to our grandchildren to make sure they see lots of pipe smoking. Another good excuse to smoke.


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## tobacmon (May 17, 2007)

Like mentioned above by Nick & Derrick I too have found that depending on the pipe and baccy depends on how I fill my pipe. Just smoking some Capt. Blk. White I did the above Frank method and it works every time with it.
I'm a recent convert to the baccy and really like it in the winter months but can't stop myself from having a bowl or 3 in the warmer months also. 

Thanks for the thread Koby!


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## pffintuff (Apr 20, 2011)

I don't follow any methods for packing. It's more trial and error and whatever works for you. Pack the bowl, not too loose, not too tight and go from there.


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## freestoke (Feb 13, 2011)

I started with Mr. Mincer showing me how to do it at Mincer's Pipe Shop. I've used his advice for 50 years and it seems to have worked out pretty well. He had one dictum, "Put it in there loose, add some to the top push it down even with the bowl. Don't pack it too tight. You can tighten it up with the tamper a bit after you get it lit, but not TOO much." Shades of "The Frank" from bowl one.

In a smoking competition, where you have to cram 3 grams of tobacco in the bowl, the 3-stage is the way to go, otherwise you'll never burn it all. But that's a lot of work to keep it going and it can get wet and horrible pretty easy and leads to a longer smoke than I like.


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## Commander Quan (May 6, 2003)

freestoke said:


> In a smoking competition...


Unless we're talking about BBQ, "Smoking Competition" is an oxymoron.


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## Thirston (Feb 2, 2011)

I used the F method the first year or so I crossed over to the pipe, but it slowly stopped working for me and I was frustrated. At that point 
I found the 3-step method and haven't looked back.

YouTube - Selecting a pipe, tobacco and how to pack a pipe


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## DSturg369 (Apr 6, 2008)

I tried the Frank method when I first started and it just didn't work well for me. I tried different suggestions and other methods but I use sort of a modified 3-step now all the time. I use a pipe nail about half the time and use my finger or thumb the rest of the time. The top layer usually always get the finger. For the actual loading, I use the thumb-scoop or the pinch methods, depending on the tobacco. For flakes, I always rub it out and pinch load.


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## freestoke (Feb 13, 2011)

Commander Quan said:


> Unless we're talking about BBQ, "Smoking Competition" is an oxymoron.


Hmm...while I agree it's somewhat like a hotdog eating contest for a gourmet, I'd still like to enter one one of these days. Seems like a lot of fun to me. Plus, you can win stuff! My life revolves around winning stuff in competition -- golf, darts, bridge, chess, pick-up sticks...I'm a game junkie, but computer games bore me. No natural sounds or tactile feedback; I want to hear that dead solid crunch of a perfect golf shot and feel it right down to the tip of my toes. I want to hear the last dart splash past the other flights and hear it ting the wire as it buries into the treble 20 for a ton eighty. I like to look at the other player as I slip my card onto the table and watch him squirm as he realizes he's in a double squeeze.


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## freestoke (Feb 13, 2011)

Thirston said:


> I used the F method the first year or so I crossed over to the pipe, but it slowly stopped working for me and I was frustrated. At that point
> I found the 3-step method and haven't looked back.
> 
> YouTube - Selecting a pipe, tobacco and how to pack a pipe


Actually, I don't see much difference. The Frank Method just leaves out the "man's finger" bit and settles for the looser pack at the end of stage 2. The result is the same, really, with the lightest pack on the bottom and the hardest at the top, so that compression evens out in the process. Functionally, what I do is delay the "stage 3" pack until the first tamp, effectively turning it into a 3/4 bowl smoke. Using a wooden tamper, this firm first tamp to establish a satisfactory draw is a uniform pressure across the surface; using a typical metal pipe tool, this uniformity is much harder to accomplish but still doable.


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